It was a quiet week. The weather was typical upstate New York mid winter. We had our January thaw on Friday when it hit 41 degrees. The snow settled and slid off our roof. Basically everything got a little break and reconfigured for more winter. By Saturday morning we were back to cold and blowing.

We finished building a small insulated room in our pole barn. This will give us a small area to put away tools and hang up a hose. The cattle continue to shrug off the weather. We expect to have to feed them until May 15th which is the typical date for return to pasture. I've counted our baleage and dry hay inventory and we should be fine. Our new used manure spreader seems to have a few problems. The dealer will be picking it up in the morning for repair. They seem to be very good about standing behind their product; I mean figuratively because you do not want to stand literally behind a manure spreader.

Friday, my second oldest son called from Florida to tell us they he and his wife were proud parents of a fine new son; 10 pounds 6 ounces. I was 10 1 and Jim was 10 4 so we have a new family best. We soon had pictures and he looks great. Based upon our experience with Jim, people seem to be incredulous when they look at the new baby and find out he is a new born not several months old.

Saturday, I took one of my lake neighbors up to the diner. He used to live in a small town and he knows about small town diners. This is his first winter at the lake and all is going well. He got a propane fueled generator installed this week.One of the regulars has the same generator. He also has a well earned reputation for knowing how to squeeze a penny hard enough to make Lincoln cry. He told the new arrival how to remove a fuse that allows the generator to self test weekly and save 13 cents a week.

My wife's mother lives within a few miles of the new baby. Her mother had a same day operation last week and Mary is off to Florida in the morning to see her mother and the baby. Jim and I picked up some John Deere baby socks at the tractor store to send along. I'll bet he is the only baby in that area with JD socks. I'll look forward to getting a picture.

One of the swimmers will be away from the pool this week as he has some work scheduled with our good dentist. We are fortunate to have such a good dentist.

We had a fire in a small horse barn Saturday afternoon. Fortunately the horses were out doors at the time. It was about 10 degrees with a brilliant sunshine so it wasn't too bad to be outside. When I got back, one of our summer neighbors came out to check their camp. We had a nice visit. Their visit and the thaw and the longer day gives us our first hopes of Spring to come.

In the evening we went to one our friends for dinner. It is a pleasant evening when you can spend it with friends.